A laboratory investigation into tyre-pavement contact behaviour of passenger car

Understanding tyre-pavement contact behaviour helps to address pavement skid resistance which is highly related to traffic safety. In this study, a pressure distribution measurement system was employed to investigate the tyre-pavement contact behaviour of a passenger car in laboratory. The pavement macrotexture was characterised by a 3D scanner and the sand patch method. It was shown that the asphalt pavement gradation, the vertical force, the tyre inclination angle and the tyre pressure significantly have effects on tyre-pavement contact behaviour. The cumulative frequency curve of tyre-pavement contact stress can be well fitted by the Boltzmann model. Under the vertical force of 4 kN, the average contact stress increases significantly when the inclination angle exceeds 3.2 degrees, while an inclination angle within 3.2 degrees has almost no effect. The force on the rib on the side that the tyre leans to changes the most with the inclination angle. As the tyre pressure increases, the average contact stress increases linearly and the contact area decreases linearly. With the increase of tyre pressure, the contact region gradually shrinks towards the middle and the contact force slightly increases in the middle and decreases at the edges.